Needlepoint Instruction

Patchwork Quilts

Inspire your stitching with the needlepoint instruction on adapting quilt blocks.

The clean geometry of patchwork quilt blocks is an unending source of inspiration for creating lovely needlepoint.With the most common patch shapes being squares and half-square triangles, there is so much you can do with stitch and stitch patterns which mimic fabric.

Begin by finding a block to adapt. Here are some sources, on-line and off.

Some classic books to use include Barbara Brackman’s Encyclopedia of Quilt Blocks and 5001 Quilt Block Designs by Maggie Malone.

There are some internet sites with big collections of pictured blocks

• Quilt Blocks Galore - 60 pages of quilt blocks, with several indexes
• McCall’s Quilting - small pictures you click on to get larger ones in popup frames
• BlockCentral.com - block library where thumbnails of many quilt blocks can be seen

• Block list at World Wide Quilting - ists quilt blocks in alphabetical order
• BlockCentral.com index - click on a letter and get a directory page which lists the block name and has additional options
• Free Quilt Patterns - links to over 1100 sites Quilters are probably the most Internet-savvy of all fiber artists, so you will find many great ideas when you explore.

  As this page grows, there will be information on picking stitches,mimicking fabrics in needlepoint, borders, and settings.